Wednesday, August 2, 2017

Filling up your car can be a hassle, especially when there are lines at the gas station. It also costs too much because part of it is covering real estate costs.

A startup called Booster thinks it has a solution for this and is partnering with major employers to send its gas trucks to office parking lots. The company says it can save you time by filling your tank while you’re at work and that it will also charge you less, often about ten cents per gallon cheaper.

Booster is “reinventing the concept and habit of getting gas for the 21st century,” CEO Frank Mycroft told TechCrunch. Going to the gas station is the “least fun thing in the week.”

Now Booster has raised a $20 million Series B, led by Conversion Capital. Existing investors Maveron, Madrona Venture Group, and RRE Ventures were among the other investors participating in the round. The startup has raised $32 million to date.

Mycroft says Booster has secured partnerships with Cisco, Oracle and Facebook to offer gas to its employees. But the companies don’t actually have to pay Booster anything. The startup gets its revenue from the employees directly.

Customers sign up for Booster via its app and schedule a fill-up. They just have to leave the gas cap open and when they return from work, they should be good to go.

Booster is also working with universities, particularly at commuter campuses. But unlikes some of the on-demand gas startups like Purple or WeFuel, Booster isn’t looking to service everyone and is just focusing on private communities.

David Wu, partner at Maveron said he invested because “the time-consuming, inconvenient trip to the gas station hasn’t changed in decades.” He says that Booster “provides a more consumer-friendly, safer and sustainable refueling experience.”

Christian Lawless, managing partner at Conversion Capital said that he invested because it’s disrupting what he estimates is a $500 billion industry. Booster has “a combination of unparalleled technology innovation, distribution efficiency, and regulatory expertise.”

Although electric and eventually autonomous vehicles are on the rise, Lawless is not too concerned about this, expecting that most vehicles will run on fuel for the “foreseeable future.”